DNA in Plague Inc is used as a resource for purchasing additional mutations. Throughout the game I have noticed that various actions (like devolving on normal difficulty or popping bubbles) result in gaining DNA but I have also noticed that there seem to be other non-obvious actions that result in gaining some additional DNA (like infecting or killing X number of people per day).

What actions result in gaining DNA and does difficulty level have any effect on these values (like it does with devolving)?

2 Answers
2

You gain DNA automatically while your disease progresses - first by infecting people, then by killing them off. I think it's a set rate dependent on numbers, but there doesn't seem to be any wiki entry backing me up on this either way. This is normally your primary income source during the mid-game, after all countries have been infected, but aside from making sure your disease spreads and kills you can't affect that rate in any way.

Popping bubbles - infection or mutation bubbles - is your secondary source of income, and that one you /can/ affect -- even if it's only by default of letting them expire without popping them.

As you progress, however, you can unlock DNA strands that increase the DNA gain from one of those activities in the Genetic Code subsection:

ATP Boost gives a bonus of about 9 DNA at the very beginning, which helps get started;

Of the five I'd personally rate Metabolic Hijack the most useless -- if so many bubbles are popping up you're worried you can't get them all in time you can just pause the game for a few seconds, and Metabolic Jump the most useful one in easy/normal because it can and almost certainly will pop up to 58 times.

No, this is still missing the massive income of DNA points I get during the game without popping bubbles - while correct this answer is incomplete. There is definitely something going on when you rapidly infect a large portion of the population (DNA starts to tick up +1 or +2 per second) and the same when killing people rapidly (DNA starts to tick up +1 or +2 per second)
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kalinaApr 27 '14 at 11:00

Devolving (1-2 DNA, depending on cost of trait, this is increased if you have ionised helix, this works for virus and nano-virus on normal and casual only if you have Transletion +, doesn't work for simian flu, necroa, neurax worm and certain scenarios)

Ape camps (only in simian flu)

Destroying a country (only in necroa virus)

Using a Trojan plane (Only in neurax worm)

Infecting people (Throughout)

Killing/affecting people (Only after 1 billion deaths and stops after 6.5 billion deaths)
Hope this helps!